Photo by Arto Marttinen on Unsplash

 

Still I sent up my prayer
Wondering where it had to go
With heaven full of astronauts
And the Lord on death row
While the millions of his lost and lonely ones
Call out and clamour to be found
Caught in their struggle for higher positions
And their search for love that sticks around

 Still I sent up my prayer
Wondering who was there to hear
I said Send me somebody
Who's strong and somewhat sincere
With the millions of the lost and lonely ones
I called out to be released
Caught in my struggle for higher achievements
And my search for love
That don't seem to cease

 The Same Situation by Joni Mitchell

I had two ideas for my blog post. Feedback that changes your writing or keeping a record of the books I've read. And then I read this paragraph in Robert Galbraith's novel - Troubled Blood:

'Margot said she'd had a line from Court and Spark,' running through her head, all day long. Joni Mitchell's album, Court and Spark,' she said, seeing Robin's puzzlement, 'That was Margot's religion. Joni Mitchell. She raved about that album. It was a line from the song "The Same Situation". "Caught in my struggle for higher achievements, And my search for love that don't seem to cease." I can't listen to that album to this day. It's too painful.

When I read that, of course I had to look up the song because it's Joni Mitchell. Case of You, Big Yellow Taxi, River and Both Sides Now. A genius songwriter, but this blog post isn't about Joni, it's about the surprise I got when I read the lyrics. 

There is so much that we could identify with in this song.  Have you ever wondered where your prayers have gone? Wondering if God has heard them, and most importantly that search for the love that only God can really give us, that search for love that don't seem to cease. 

In July 2021, I wrote a post called Surprised by God  when God did exactly that, appeared in a book I didn't expect him in, and he's done it again. Appearing in a thriller about a woman who goes missing in 1974. And not only does it feature prayer, but the section I shared this paragraph from concerned the best friend of the woman who went missing, and Oonagh is an Irish woman who left her faith, became a playboy bunny, but then came back to faith, as I discovered two pages on - 

'God was calling me back,' said Oonagh. 'I kept going into Anglican churches, t'inking, is this the answer?  There was so much about the Catholics I couldn't take, but still, I could feel the pull back towards Him.'

Now this is a big book. 927 pages, and I'm only up to page 312, so I don't know what surprises still await me, but I love it when God pops up, and I hope you'll experience that too, whether in your reading, writing or ways that you'd never expect in the year ahead. 

Martin is a writer, baker, photographer and storyteller. He's been published in the ACW Christmas anthology and Lent devotional. He's currently honing his craft at flash fiction and you can find him on Twitter here.